


Enciente

by Zoya1416



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: An Unexpected Announcement, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-16 01:31:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5808088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya1416/pseuds/Zoya1416
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Donna has an announcement for Byerly</p>
            </blockquote>





	Enciente

_“Enceinte? ___breathed Byerly.  
Donna faced him, her normally happy face tense.  
  
“You're sure?”  
  
“Perfectly. I've known for some time now.” They were upstairs in her pink and purple bedroom. Pink sheets and comforter, purple canopy--and a small bookcase packed with interesting titles. He'd learned a lot from them. Today he'd looked forward to one of their cozy chats: By and Donna ranting against the world in general, and the hell of being Vorrutyer in particular, but she'd shocked him.  
  
“And you want me to help you—how? Do you, want, that is--uh, to--uh, get rid of--?"  
  
He'd joined many female gatherings to learn about fashion, but left immediately as soon as gynecology was mentioned. Sometimes he hadn't been quite in time, though. Today he tried to remember what little he'd overheard about such situations. He thought babies weren't always inevitable, but...that was as far as he knew.  
  
“No. Absolutely not. You know what Father said, though.”  
Byerly did know. Donna's father had gone red in the face, eyes popping, as he made dire pronouncements if such an event should ever occur.  
  
“Do you know...when?”  
  
“Soon, I think.”  
  
Byerly hesitated, a little surprised. At eight years old, he wasn't at all familiar with such matters, but he'd thought there would have been more— _bulginess_ by this point. He reached out his hand involuntarily to the white cloth over her lap.  
  
“Don't do that. It's irritating.”  
  
“And...um, your, um...the father? He wouldn't help?”  
  
She shrugged. “Who knows where he is? Or who he is, for that matter.”  
  
Byerly shuddered as he looked at her. He'd always seen his four-years older cousin as vastly more experienced, with the self-assurance he admired. Today her eyes weren't sparkling as usual, and her black curls hung limp. Matters were much worse than they seemed.  
“You don't know _who?_ Donna, you've got to tell your father. You haven't seen a doctor? He's got to know. It can be dangerous for you—can't it?  
  
This was one of the few other things he knew; sometimes women had problems. In fact, that was something they seemed to ghoulishly mention, and another reason for his quick flight away from fashion parties.  
  
She shrugged. “I can't tell him. Are you going to help me or not?”  
  
“What do you want me to do?”  
  
“I thought you could take one. Or maybe two.”  
  
Now his own eyes popped.  
“More than one? Good gods, Donna, how are you standing this? You really haven't seen a doctor? I swear I had no idea. And how do you think I could take care of, of, a baby anyway?”  
  
She hunched her shoulders. “They'll be pretty small to begin with. You can handle it.”  
“  
I can _not_ handle a baby, Donna! This is crazy!” He grabbed his hair, disarraying his careful brushing.  
He had thought her practical, much more experienced than he, but it seemed that pregnancy did ruin a woman's mind, as he had been told.  
“That's insane. We have to get you to someone—maybe someone from m'mother's side. Maybe one of the armsmen? Szabo is your friend, I know. He won't turn you out like your father.” He frantically thought about escape. He couldn't fly a lightflyer, but there were all-terrain vehicles that even someone his size could handle. But should she be jounced around like that?  
  
She bowed her head and her shoulders shook.  
Now she was weeping. He couldn't stand this, and reached over to hug her. “Come on, don't cry, there has to be...we've got to...why are you laughing about this?”  
  
He suddenly realized that she wasn't weeping, but had the giggles. “It's a serious event, By, but not as bad as you were thinking. Look, do you want one or not?”  
She pulled away the white dish towel to uncover Bessie, her cat, who was indeed much fatter than normal. By watched in deep annoyance and some fascination the movements inside her huge belly.  
  
“You could have said. That's just mean.” He glared at her.  
  
She shrugged again. “Now I do know I can count on you if such a situation—if I— ”  
  
“Of course you can trust me! Always. You didn't have to torment me. But you're not--" He leaned forward over the cat and pressed his forehead against Donna's.  
  
“No. I'm not. So what do you think you could do to help?”  
He decided quickly.“I'll take the whole lot. They already think I'm odd—why not be known as the boy who raises cats in his sock drawer. I just don't know what to feed them..."  
The black cat was peacefully licking one of her white paws, looking at him serenely.  
  
“I'll have take the mother, too, I guess. She could feed them for awhile, couldn't she?. While they're tiny. But I don't have any cat food. I don't know what we'll do with them once they get bigger.”  
  
“Uncle Claude has a barn back on his place. I was going to take her there, but then I saw she's awfully big. I thought it would be less dangerous if she were inside and protected for the delivery. She can hunt mice here--I know I've seen some."  
  
“I could get some fish. I could fish in the stock ponds, if someone taught me how.”  
He wished he'd occasionally listened to the all-male conversations about killing things. Could he really kill a fish? If it would help Donna, he would try to. Then there was the other end to think of. Cats went outside, but what did kittens do? He really didn't want smelly kittens around his neatly folded clothes for very long. But he'd do anything for Donna.  
  
He studied the pale-skinned girl bent protectively over the black and white cat. Her posture was tense. There was _something_ worrying her besides unexpected kittens.  
  
“Really, though—no one is...hurting you? Or—Richars is around here a lot, isn't he?”  
  
She still averted her face.“Yes. Are you sure you want to know about Richars? He scares me. He tried to rape me.”  
  
“Donna! You've never told me!”  
She continued in a sad tone. “Then he killed my puppy when I fought back. He'd kill the cat for fun, just because it's mine. That's why—well, it was mean, but I wanted to see what you'd do if, if—”  
  
“Donna, best of my girl cousins—” he scooted around to her side.  
  
“ _Only_ girl cousin,” she muttered.  
  
“Count on me for anything, anytime. Just don't lie to me again. Ever.”  
  
“Thank you. I had to tease, because if I don't, I'll just, just...”  
  
He did hear a few tears now. He hugged her even harder, as the cat nonchalantly continued to groom herself.

**Author's Note:**

> Enciente =Pregnant


End file.
